Willis Hill, father of Tanya McCall, talks to the media with Bishop Bob Jackson at Acts Full Gospel Church in Oakland, Calif., Monday, March 12, 2007. McCall was shot dead, allegedly by her estranged husband, outside the church on Sunday.

Willis Hill, left, father of Tanya McCall, and his wife Tiny at Acts Full Gospel Church in Oakland, Calif., Monday, March 12, 2007. McCall was shot dead, allegedly by her estranged husband, outside the church on Sunday. Mrs. Hill is McCall's stepmother. (D. Ross Cameron/The Oakland Tribune)

OAKLAND — Matthew McCall apparently did some planning before he ambushed and fatally shot his estranged wife, Tanya Hill McCall, outside her East Oakland church Sunday morning, police said Monday.

Homicide investigators said they found evidence supporting that theory in his American Canyon home Sunday night, 13 hours after he is suspected of killing her in the parking lot of Acts Full Gospel Church.

Homicide Sgt. Tony Jones would not elaborate, but he said the documents “lead us to believe he planned to confront her outside the church.”

Matthew McCall, 42, who worked at the C&H sugar refinery in Crockett, was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of murder and has refused to talk to investigators.

After separating from her husband last September, two months before she filed for divorce, Tanya McCall, 40, moved to Vallejo. Police said they are not sure if Matthew McCall knew where she was living but they believe he knew she would be at the church.

Matthew McCall, who normally drives a distinctive Mercedez-Benz, drove a truck to the parking lot of the church in the 11000 block of 66th Avenue, arriving there before his wife was to attend an 8 a.m. service.

As several horrified parishioners watched, he confronted her in the parking lot about 7:40 a.m. and shot her as she tried to run from him, police said. He then stood over her while she lay bleeding and helpless on the pavement and shot her again, killing her instantly, Jones said.

McCall may have hoped no one recognized him as he drove away, police said.

But within a few hours after the killing, her family told police about the couple’s violent relationship, and an extensive search for him was undertaken.

McCall, who has a 1987 manslaughter conviction and a 1995 weapons conviction his wife was aware of, turned himself into deputies at the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez about 9 p.m. Sunday.

Almost at the same time, police SWAT teams from Oakland and Napa were raiding his American Canyon home.

Jones said McCall “did not appear to have any remorse” about what happened to his wife, who was his high school sweetheart, according to relatives.

At a Monday news conference announcing the arrest, police said Matthew McCall had committed acts of domestic violence against his wife at least seven times since the early 1980s.

In obtaining a restraining order against him in February, Tanya McCall told of being choked and hit on several occasions by her husband during their 13 years of marriage.

She said one attack happened because she refused to hold a baby that belonged to a relative of her husband’s and another time because he got jealous because she had lunch with a co-worker. After one beating, she had to go to a hospital to get stitches over an eye, authorities said.

Police said the couple had considerable property and the dividing of it “was not amicable. That appeared to be the tension between them,” Jones said.

Her family members told police Matthew McCall had threatened to harm her and “she was afraid for her safety. She knew he had taken a life in the past,” Jones said.

McCall had been charged with murder for a September 1985 shooting death of another man in Richmond. But as part of a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in May 1987 and was sentenced to a year in jail.

Last month, Tanya McCall got a temporary restraining order against her husband that was continued March 5.

He was ordered not to come within 100 feet of her, her home or vehicle and was told not to contact her by phone, e-mail or regular mail, nor to take any action to find out where she lived, authorities said.

Matthew McCall was at the March 5 hearing in Fairfield and nothing happened. But his wife’s relatives have told police they suspect the outcome of the hearing might have been what led to her killing.

Homicide Lt. Ersie Joyner III said a restraining order “is in no way a panacea to stop violence” but having one at least gives police another tool to act in such cases.

Joyner said Oakland police had not been made aware of such an order until after Tanya McCall was killed.

He offered condolences to her family on behalf of the police department and said the killing was definitely “something that did not need to happen. That it should happen outside a house or worship in the manner it was done is unheard of.”

Jones said that even if Tanya McCall did not have a restraining order against her husband, “you would think a person going to church should feel safe,” especially where there were a lot of people and security guards.

“I’m not sure what could have been done to prevent this,” Jones said.

Matthew McCall is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland. Prosecutors will explore whether there is enough evidence to include special circumstance counts of lying in wait and murder for financial gain, which would make him eligible for the death penalty.

Harry Harris is a Pulitzer Prize winning breaking news reporter for the Bay Area News Group. He began his Oakland Tribune career in September 1965 as a 17-year-old copyboy. He became a reporter in 1972 and is considered one of the best crime and breaking news reporters in the country. He has covered tens of thousands of murders and other crimes in the East Bay. He has also mentored dozens of young reporters, some of whom continue to work in journalism today.

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